No Popcaan For RedBull Culture Clash In Atlanta, GA

Due to issues securing travel documents, the artist will not join his team.

The Redbull Culture Clash in Atlanta will be missed one of it’s notable competitors. Popcaan and his team released a statement announcing that due to issues securing the proper travel documents for Popcaan, he will not be allowed to enter the United States to perform. He was part of the winning team at last year’s Red Bull Culture Clash.

“Due to complications with his travel documents, Popcaan will not be performing at tonight’s Red Bull Culture Clash,” wrote Red Bull in a statement. “The Unruly crew will be performing as planned. Please see the statement from Unruly for more information”

You can read Popcaan’s full statement above.

A representative for Popcaan did not immediately return a request for come.

SoundCloud’s investors just approved a life-saving $170 million emergency fund. Here are all the details.

SoundCloud just bought a few more months of life. But existing CEO Alex Ljung will no longer be running the show.

The emergency funding was given the green light this morning, according to details confirmed by company investors to Digital Music News. As reported on Thursday, incoming investors The Raine Group and Temesek led the emergency round, though they demanded preferential terms.

This is a risky bailout, so special demands are in order. Specifically, Raine and Temesek will receive first dibs on cash if SoundCloud gets sold, liquidates, or implodes. Those are all very real possibilities.

Leading up the vote, CEO Alex Ljung was urging former investors to vote ‘yes’. They did that — but they also voted ‘no’ on Ljung.

Accordingly, Ljung is being slotted into a ‘Chairman of the Board’ role. Sounds like a soft transition out of power, which raises a range of additional questions. At this stage, it’s unclear if Ljung will play an active role in the future direction of the company.

Either way, Ljung is playing along, while heralding the successful round and a bright future. But many point to Ljung as the culprit.

Indeed, as SoundCloud burned, Ljung has been blasted for wasting money and partying like a rock star. That included lavish offices, outrageous perks and scant strategies for monetization. Meanwhile, more focused companies like Spotify, YouTube, and Apple have been eating SoundCloud’s lunch.

Perhaps it’s time for some adults to assume control. And, determine a tangible, effective plan of action. Accordingly, replacing Ljung will be former Vimeo CEO Kerry Trainor. Mike Weissman will become COO.

CTO Eric Wahlforss is also moving.

Instead of CTO, Wahlforss will become ‘Chief Product Officer’. But that just creates another elephant in the room. After all, why weren’t Ljung and Wahlforss flat-out removed? Especially given the massive issues plaguing SoundCloud under their leadership?

Even worse, SoundCloud’s bailout package seems to be rewarding Ljung and Wahlforss with ongoing salaries.

Here’s a statement issued by SoundCloud to Digital Music News this morning.

“SoundCloud, the world’s largest music and audio platform, announced today it has reached an agreement on a significant investment from global merchant bank The Raine Group and Singapore-headquartered investment company Temasek. In connection with the investment, veteran digital media operators Kerry Trainor and Michael Weissman will join the SoundCloud team respectively as Chief Executive Officer and Chief Operating Officer.”

On Friday, SoundCloud’s existing investors will determine if the company lives or dies. So you might want to back up your catalog.

Updated, Friday AM: SoundCloud’s investors have just approved a $170 million funding round — but the CEO has been replaced. Here are all the details.

And here’s our original story from Thursday:

The walls are caving in on SoundCloud. And its entire future is now hinging upon one vote.

Earlier, Digital Music News reported that the beleaguered streaming service was entertaining rescue investment from two groups. But according to a just-published report, those newer investors need to be approved by a bunch of older investors. And that’s not guaranteed.

The vote to rescue (or not) comes on Friday, August 11th, according to Axios writer Dan Primack. Citing a memo leaked to Axios, Primak notes that the incoming ‘rescue’ investors Raine Group and Temasek would receive preferential treatment. Which basically means that other investors would be de-prioritized, receive worsened terms, and have a harder time recovering their cash.

Ljung has warned that if the rescue package isn’t approved, the company won’t have enough money to survive. It would introduce a dangerous tailspin as employees jumped ship and the money dwindled to zero.

So essentially, a ‘no’ vote terminates the company. Or at least drastically reduces its chances of survival.

Existing investors would face some raw deal terms. In the case of an eventual fire-sale or liquidation, Raine and Temasek would get to recover their funds first, along with any other investors participating in this ‘Series F’. Sounds like a bad deal, except that the alternative is destroying SoundCloud forever.

SoundCloud is asking for an additional $170 million. The Series F sharply plunges SoundCloud’s pre-money valuation to $150 million.

One option for existing investors is to keep the company afloat and accept the bad terms. Then, work like hell to either liquidate or sell the company, a move that Ljung has previously resisted.

Others investors participating in this ‘Series F’ round include Union Square Ventures, Doughty Hanson and Atlantic Technology. So that complicates the analysis and decision matrix a bit.

Existing SoundCloud CEO Alex Ljung is obviously urging investors to vote yes. But here’s the kicker: ReCode has just reported that if the rescue round is approved, Ljung will probably be fired. In fact, a massive leadership shakeup is almost a certainty.

Accordingly, Vimeo CEO Kerry Trainor would assume the CEO helm, according to the Recode report. Whether Ljung would fight to remain CEO is another question.

Earlier, we’d heard that investors loved Ljung. But love has a funny way of turning into hate.

Over its multi-year history, SoundCloud has burned through more than $230 million. That doesn’t even include an additional $70 million in loans, undoubtedly accruing massive interest.

Meanwhile, attempts to launch a premium tier have floundered. SoundCloud Go has largely underwhelmed and failed to amass any subscribers. Spotify, meanwhile, has 60 million paying subscribers.

Incidentally, Spotify apparently passed on a deal to acquire SoundCloud. That could play into the current decision, especially the analysis of whether SoundCloud is actually sellable or not.

Ed Lover sat down with Pras from the legendary multi-platinum group “Fugees” to have a intimate conversation discussing topics such as the groups demise, the process of making such great records, the leak of the unreleased track, new album and also the question the fans have been anticipating to know will there be a reunion.

CHECKOUT THE BRAND NEW SINGLE FT: YOUNG MA

The Fugees burst on the scene in 1994. Came out with a classic album in 1996. And like that, they were gone. It’s 21 years later, and some fans are still holding out hope that the gang might get back together. That definitely doesn’t seem like it will be the case, but we do have something like the next best thing. Yesterday (July 15), Funkmaster Flex flexed a little by pulling an unreleased song from the trio out of the stash and playing it during his show.

The song sounds like it could have been originally released yesterday, with no real glaring aspects that date the busy production. Lauryn Hill, Wyclef Jean and Pras are spitting just like old times.

It is unclear exactly when the song was made. But according to Lauryn Hill, it is official. The former Fugees front woman hopped on Twitter to co-sign the authenticity of the record. “The ‘new’ Fugees song is indeed an old track played around with back in the day in the lab,” she announced. “Not sure who leaked it, but I have my suspicions.”

As for Ms. Hill, she will be heading out on tour with Nas in September. Starting on Sept. 7 in Chicago, the jaunt will hit up 17 cities including Toronto, Boston, Houston, Miami, Los Angeles and more before closing out on Oct. 10 in Vancouver. Special guests at selected dates will be comedian Hannibal Buress and reggae artist Chronic.

“I just want to apologize to di fans who came from all over di world to see Mavado. This has hurt our brand,” he told the Jamaica Observer.

According to Jabba, Dexta Daps was not at the venue at 10:50 pm when he was scheduled to go on stage. He said the artiste was at his hotel and refused to budge until certain demands were met.“He said he wouldn’t come to the park unless he was paid his back-end (rest of his show fee), he wanted 10 extra passes, an’ US$1,000 we owed him for travelling expenses from the Love And Harmony Cruise,” Jabba explained. Promoters agreed, but when Dexta Daps finally arrived and began his set, it was 11:15. He performed for just over 30 minutes. By the time Mavado’s band finished setting up, the police called time on the show. Jabba, who was part of the team that promoted the inaugural Love And Harmony Cruise in March, said the unceremonious end to Best Of The Best gave the show a black eye.“We’ve never had any money issue with artistes. We’ve shown them nothing but love.”

The Observer contacted Dexta Daps’s management for comment. They said a response will be issued soon.

Let me explain something that most people may not understand. Remy and Nicki have two different fan bases, which means Nicki has crossed over into a Mega Pop Superstar, selling out arenas worldwide; which also means she has major endorsement deals and she also mentors young girls. That is bigger than just rap. Do you think she can just get on a record and spazz out like Remy? I think not. Remy is a great artist, but she is not at that level in her career yet.

This is why I say it was a terrible Marketing & Promotional idea to go after Nicki. If Nicki decides to put out an album the same day as Remy, do you think any investors are going get behind Remy Ma? I think not. It would be a bad business move because the odds are stacked against Remy.

Nicki and her Marketing/Promotion team have a proven success rate by consistently selling Multi-Platinum Records and having the most Top 100 hits on Billboard for a woman. Not to mention she has the corporate power structure behind her to shut down Remy Ma’s career. Let’s be honest if the BET Awards had to choose between Nickior Remy to perform on the show at this moment in both of their careers, who do you think they are going to choose? It’s all about ratings and corporate sponsors that fund these events and labels that these artists are signed to. If I just spent a million in marketing dollars on Nicki’s career such as Young Money/Cash Money Records did and its corporate associates which are basically controlling the airwaves, i.e Young Thug, Drake & more, of course they’re going to shut down Remy, i.e Black Ball her whether Nicki responds or not. Those corporate investors are not going to let their money go to waste, period. So all those radio hosts, Dj’s and program directors can say what they want about Nicki, but they are still gonna play Nicki records 10 times a day and that is why Remy Ma is back tracking. And really I’m upset that nobody on Remy team saw this coming or thought about the consequences ahead of time. The lesson to be learned from this for Remy is not to go after the person you want to surpass but instead befriend them and learn from they’re success and figure out how to incorporate it into yours. Be Blessed On Your Journey To Success!!!